Tell Us Your Stories

Mischievous moments are part and parcel of being a kid, and you have to admit they give us some great stories to dine out on. Why not share yours?

One mum told us about the time she visited a mock-up of an eco-home at a child-friendly museum. One of the features was a composting toilet – trouble is, it wasn’t actually a working toilet. Her seven-year-old knew this but persuaded the newly toilet-trained three-year-old to show off his recently acquired skills. By the time his mother realised what was happened a large puddle had formed. Fortunately, the museum staff were totally unfazed and said it was a regular occurrence so everyone had a bit of a laugh.

The clever bit of parenting is recognising the right time to enjoy an innocent prank and the point at which your child needs to be gently steered back on to the straight and narrow. Innocent fun of the fart cushion variety rarely causes offence, though one mum tells us her eight-year-old daughter tried it out when they had a visit from the local crime prevention officer, following a break-in. It went down like a lead balloon at the time, though they all confessed it was hilarious in retrospect!.

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Sometimes the learning curve involves knowing that what’s hilarious in the privacy of home may not be suitable to share with Granny or little Johnny’s headmaster. Sometimes it’s the parents who need to button up, as proved by a small boy who ran into his gym class late and loudly announced, ‘Mummy’s parking the car, the traffic was awful – she says they’re all bankers!’

Tell us your stories – and if it’s despicable you’re after, we recommend you getting Despicable Me for the family to enjoy. It’s out on 21 February 2011 on Blu-ray, DVD, legal digital download and in spectacular stereoscopic Blu-ray 3D – click here to buy Despicable Me